Exhibitions

Please Note: The Detroit Historical Museum is closed due to flooding.

The Detroit Historical Museum is the only museum dedicated to telling our region’s history. Click through to learn more about the new exhibitions - and old favorites - that we offer! All museum exhibitions are free with general admission.

Signature Exhibitions

The Detroit Historical Museum's Signature Exhibitions are permanent installations that showcase more than 300 years of our city's rich history. Five new, permanent exhibitions debuted in 2012: the Gallery of Innovation, the Allesee Gallery of Culture, the Kid Rock Music Lab, Legends Plaza, and Detroit: The Arsenal of Democracy. An expanded Doorway to Freedom: Detroit and the Underground Railroad exhibition better showcases this important part of Detroit history. Pre-existing permanent exhibitions have received upgrades and improvements, including updates to the beloved Streets of Old Detroit, America's Motor City and Frontiers to Factories: Detroiters at Work, 1701-1901 exhibitions. 

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Changing Exhibitions

The Detroit Historical Museum's changing or limited-engagement exhibition galleries include a feature exhibition space in the Booth-Wilkinson gallery, and our Community Gallery, which rotates every three months and highlights other non-profit organizations, community groups and educational institutions. Each year the Society adds to its extensive collection of over 250,000 objects and images, these new acquisitions, as well as artifacts already in the collection, are made available for viewing on a rotating basis in our Collections Corner exhibition. Other temporary exhibits include Automotive Showplace in the America's Motor City exhibition, Center Stage in the Allessee Gallery of Culture and the Detroit Artists Showcase.

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Traveling Exhibitions

-AVAILABLE FOR RENTAL-

The Detroit Historical Society’s traveling exhibitions program provides cultural institutions and organizations with a selection of rentable exhibitions that are informational, eye-catching and budget friendly.  They are perfect for museums, historic houses, libraries and more.  Our ever-growing catalog of exhibits range in topics: from war posters that inspired citizens during World War II, to individual kiosks that explore Michigan’s role in the Civil War, to masterful renditions of classic cars by transportation artist Jerome Beiderman.  These stories have their roots in Detroit and Michigan, but they resonate with a national audience.

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